No 1930s adventure serial would be complete without Chinese warlords, cannibalistic Mongolian bandits, the Emperor Pu-Yi, Bolshevik agents, the “Mad” Baron von Ungen-Sternberg, a blue tiger and a lady called Mother Jesus. Now put a fossil hunter in the middle of this cast of characters and you have the true story of Roy Chapman Andrews, considered one of the last great American adventurers and the inspiration for Indiana Jones.

Written by Charles Gallenkamp, “Dragon Hunter” is the story of Andrews’ rise from floor sweeper at the American Museum of Natural History to organizer, promoter and leader of a series of expeditions in the middle of Mongolia’s Gobi Desert. Considered one of the greatest feats of logistics, organization and bravado, the Central Asiatic Expeditions (as they were called) would lead to a wealth of discoveries of prehistoric mammals, dinosaur eggs and the first Velociraptor.

Though “Dragon Hunter” recounts the details of the expeditions and their discoveries, it is the obstacles and adventures encountered before and during the expeditions that give the book its flavor.

Before Andrews could even organize the expeditions, he had to raise the equivalent of $5.25 million in today’s terms to fund the adventure. While well known in his time as a gritty adventurer, Andrews also knew how to promote himself to the upper crust of society. He easily garnered sizable checks from the likes of Rockefeller, Colgate, Vanderbilt and J.P. Morgan, who was so excited by Andrews’ plans that he wrote a check to cover one-fifth of the total money needed for the expeditions.

Once funding was acquired, Andrews needed to move tons of equipment and supplies from New York to Beijing, the staging point for his expeditions. He also needed to get paperwork and passes for access to Mongolia from China, a feat in itself considering complete sets of paperwork were needed from different Chinese warlords who ran different parts of the country. Throw in a mix of paranoid Bolshevik agents from Russian-controlled Upper Mongolia and the constant menace of Mongolian bandits and you have the Central Asiatic Expeditions.

Gallenkamp’s writing quickly moves you along the story without stopping to deliberate on the importance of the expedition’s discoveries.

Along the way, Gallenkamp also reminds the reader of the historical events in China, Russia and Mongolia that surrounded and affected the expeditions. In one episode, Andrews and two assistants spotted a lone Mongolian horseman on a ridge nearby where two Russian cars had been robbed. Not taking any chances, Andrews mounted his Dodge touring car and charged the horseman. With one hand on the steering wheel, Andrews drew his pistol and began firing on the horseman. Cresting the ridge, Andrews was confronted by three more horseman with drawn rifles. Though the Mongolian bandits might have seen motorcars before, their ponies had not.

Other episodes include Andrews falling into shark-infested waters, dodging machine-gun fire in the streets of Beijing and a summary beheading on the fender of Andrews’s car.

Gallenkamp does an excellent job of giving a brief history of characters as they enter the story — from McKenzie Young, the chief of the expedition’s motor transport and logistics who was three times wounded in World War I, to Mother Jesus, who ran the Number Nine geisha house in Yokohama, filled with scoundrels, smugglers, warlords, mercenaries and spies (one of whom was Andrews).

“Dragon Hunter” does not provide a wealth of information on paleontology, but if you love a good adventure such as “Indiana Jones,” “The Mummy” or “Tales of the Golden Monkey” (if anyone remembers that television series) then you will enjoy the real-life adventures of Roy Chapman Andrews.